From the label:

This limited-edition LP set features six outstanding recordings from Decca’s earliest high fidelity history, celebrating the technological breakthroughs that brought full-frequency range recording (ffrr) and high fidelity to the world 70 years ago. The recordings in this set, including Decca’s first LP (Ansermet’s 1949 recording of Petrouchka), have been selected from a collection of 50 celebrated recordings in the 53-CD set of THE DECCA SOUND MONO YEARS. Newly presented in luxury 180gm vinyl pressings, the set includes a newly written booklet detailing the history behind the Decca Sound from this period.

Exploring Decca’s early high-fidelity audio history, this numbered limited edition 180g 6LP box set of acclaimed full-frequency range recordings from the Mono era spans legendary composers from Stravinsky and Beethoven to Rachmaninov; world renowned conductors from Ernest Ansermet to Erich Kleiber; great soloists such as Clifford Curzon and Julius Katchen; and iconic orchestras like the London Philharmonic and Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. Includes original cover art from each recording. Lacquers cut at Abbey Road Studios.

Review:

Kleiber recorded Beethoven’s “Pastorale” Symphony twice, once in 1948 with the London Philharmonic and again in 1953 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The 1953 recording is clearly not a sentimental, leisurely account, and there have been more lyrical readings of the slow movement, but the playing is fine throughout, and the Peasants’ Merrymaking and Storm sequences are among the most rambunctious and fierce I’ve ever heard. The transition to the final Shepherds’ Song is also masterly, but on the whole, I’m not sure what motivated him to return to the studio to re-record the piece, since the 1948 London recording strikes me as utterly wonderful — more charming and more relaxed in feel, even though it’s a full two minutes shorter than the remake. The slow movement is gorgeous and the closing wind section is the most vivid depiction of birdsong that I’ve ever heard in many recordings of this piece and the finale features Kleiber’s trademark sonic transparency, with three or four different simultaneous musical ideas equally clear and audible without obscuring any of the other lines. — James C.S. Liu, M.D., jamescsliu.com